Louisville traffic stop results in heroin seizure; felony charges for four men

LOUISVILLE  The St. Lawrence County Drug Task Force arrested four men on heroin charges following a traffic stop Wednesday on County Route 36 in the town of Louisville.

A 2005 Ford Escape driven by Christopher J. Sharp, 23, of 1 Ann St., Norfolk, was stopped by a sheriffs department K-9 unit about 6 p.m., and deputies said a subsequent free air sniff of the vehicles exterior led to the discovery of 21 packets of heroin.

Mr. Sharp and three other occupants in the vehicle  Allen J. Oshier, 30, of 94 Lincoln Ave., Waddington; Christopher A. Lopez, 23, of Union City, N.J.; and Christopher J. Hughes, 32, of 81 Grantville Road, Norfolk  were each charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.

The four men were arraigned by Pierrepont Town Justice Robert G. Camp and sent to the St. Lawrence County jail, Canton.

The bust occurred on the heels of a roundup of 10 north country residents arrested on drug trafficking charges Tuesday.

St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin M. Wells said this incident is a separate investigation that stemmed strictly from a probable cause traffic stop that brought in the St. Lawrence County Drug Task Force. Sheriff Wells was unable to elaborate further on what that probable cause was but said an investigation continues.

This is something else that came immediately to the attention of the Drug Task Force, Sheriff Wells said. It is part of a new investigation that was not long running like some of Tuesdays arrests but will likely end up in more arrests.

Mr. Lopez was indicted Monday by a grand jury on an unrelated drug charge that alleges he was in possession of both heroin and cocaine with the intent to sell in the village of Massena. He is facing charges of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class B felony, on that indictment.

The drug task force was assisted by members of the Canton, Massena and Norfolk police departments, state police, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Lawrence County Sheriffs Department.

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